Dear colleagues,
The Guardian University Guide was published on Saturday and I am very pleased to report that the University has maintained its rank of 12th in the UK and 2nd in Scotland, sustaining our highest ever achievement in this ranking. Medicine has also again been ranked 1st in the UK, an outstanding achievement.
In 2018 the University ranked 51st in the UK in the Guardian University Guide. We have been making excellent progress in the last six years and have now been ranked within the top 15 for three years in a row and top 20 for five consecutive years. This result is a testament to the hard work of our community in driving forward the commitments we made under Aberdeen 2040.
Apart from Medicine, a further six subject areas achieved a UK top 10 rank:
- 3rd in Anthropology & Archaeology
- 4th in Accounting & Finance
- 5th in Sociology & Social Policy
- 7th in Languages & Linguistics
- 8th in Business & Management
- 8th in International Relations
A further five subjects rank in the top quartile in the UK: Economics, English, Law, Philosophy, and Psychology.
Much of the data used in this ranking has not changed from last year owing to delays in the release of HESA Student data for 2022/23 and the Guardian has therefore used the same HESA data as last year. As a result, our performance for five metrics has remained identical or very similar to last year: Student-staff ratio, Expenditure per student, Average entry tariff (looking at UCAS scores of entrants), Continuation, and Value-added score (comparing students’ degree results with their entry qualifications to show how effectively they are taught).
We have remained in the top 10 for Satisfaction with Teaching (9th in the UK, based on the National Student Survey 2023 and 2024), albeit a drop of five places from last year.
Our rank for Career Prospects as measured by the most recent Graduate Outcomes Survey has also improved by one place, with a rank of 32nd in the UK. However, our rank for Satisfaction with Assessment (NSS) has dropped by 12 places to 70th in the UK. This will need to be an area of particular focus in the coming year.
The Guardian University Guide, unlike other national league tables, focuses exclusively on teaching and student-facing metrics, with the overall ranking built up from the subject level rankings. A full report on the Guardian University Guide 2025 is available on the Directorate of Planning & Governance webpages.
Further ranking results are expected this month, with The Times & Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025 due to be published on 20 September. This year the Times Higher Education World University Rankings is expected to be published in October. We will disseminate the results to the community as usual. But meanwhile, congratulations to Medicine and to the whole University community on these outstanding results.
Best wishes
Karl
Karl Leydecker
Senior Vice-Principal